Al-Risala (English), September 1989

Examples from the Life of the Prophet

1989 9 September 18-24 Examples from the Life of the Prophet (2662) In recent times, Muslim thinking has gone to the extreme of demanding that anyone who ridicules, or casts aspersions on the Prophet should be condemned to death and summarily executed. No such absolute law, however, forms part of the Shariah, nor is there any genuine argument in support of the death penalty to be found anywhere in the Quran. Never once were any of the Prophets commanded by God to instigate the killing of anyone who dared to commit such acts of blasphemy, in spite of the Quran having mentioned at least 50 instances – hardly stray incidents – of all the prophets having been mocked without exception by their contemporaries.

To such offenders, only two kinds of reaction were considered possible. Either they had to have their criticism refuted by counter-arguments, or they had to be given due warning about incurring the wrath and chastisement of Almighty God.

These transgressors fell into two categories, non-Muslims, and people who called themselves Muslims without actually being so, i.e. hypocrites. The Prophet of Islam was confronted with both kinds of people, who harassed him unmercifully. But neither the so-called Muslims nor the non-Muslims were awarded the death penalty in the Quran for having merely ridiculed the Prophet. The truth is that had impertinence to, or contempt for the Prophet been held punishable by death, this would have led to irremediable losses, in terms of human lives, to Islam. The termination of those lives would have meant no further possibility of converting the culprits to true religion. It may seem something of a paradox, but the defenders of Islam who have gone down in history as the Companions of the Prophet had frequently been guilty of impudence to the Prophet before their acceptance of Islam. If they had been put to death the moment they committed this folly, theirs would not just have been the execution of some common criminals, but would have amounted to the murder of people who later went on to become the makers of Islamic history. That very history of Islam in which Muslims take the most pride would subsequently have taken a very different and inglorious course, for all the most valuable individuals would have been lost before they could accept Islam and play the heroic role destined for them by the divine scheme at the universal level in world history.

We quote here some incidents during the life of the Prophet in order to illustrate this point.

With an Eye to the Future

In the days of the Prophet, one of Mecca’s most prominent citizens was Suhail Ibn Amr. Today he is hailed as a companion of the Prophet, but in the early days, he was his dire opponent, having participated in the Battle of Badr waged against the Prophet by the idolaters. This battle resulted in defeat for the latter and Suhail ibn Amr was captured and brought to Medina along with 70 other prisoners.

Famous for his eloquence, Suhail ibn Amr was dubbed the ‘orator’ of the Quraysh. He did not hesitate to use his powers of oratory against Islam, lampooning the Prophet in his poetry and oratory, and constantly instigating the people against the Prophet and Islam. When he was taken prisoner after the defeat, he was brought before the Muslims who were in complete control of the situation. Umar Farooq then said to the Prophet, “Please allow me to break Suhail ibn Amr’s front teeth, so that his tongue will protrude. This will so impair his speech that he will no longer be able to indulge in vituperative oratory.” In view of Suhail ibn Amr’s vindictive behaviour, this seemed quite justifiable. But the Prophet refused to concur. He said, “I will not have him disfigured. If I disfigure him, God will disfigure me, even although I am a Prophet.” Then the Prophet made one other observation to Umar Farooq which related ostensibly to only one individual, but which was actually a universal reality. He said that Suhail ibn Amr might one day attain to such a position that they would never even think of reproaching him, far less castigating him. (Surat ibn Hisham, part II, p. 293). Suhail ibn Amr was, therefore, not put to death, and was set free without even being disfigured. He was allowed to go home in peace.

But even the Prophet’s exemplary treatment of Suhail did not deter the latter in his enmity towards Islam. He later instigated the Meccans once again to attack Medina with an army of 3,000. This resulted in the disastrous war of Uhud in 3 AH.

It was this same Suhail ibn Amr who saw to it that the word ‘Prophet’ was expunged from the peace treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 6 AH, and forced the Prophet to agree to all the unilateral conditions made by the Quraysh while the peace treaty was being drawn up.

Then God’s succour came to the Prophet: Mecca was conquered by the Muslims in 8 AH. Suhail ibn Amr still, however, clung to idolatry. Nevertheless, even in the face of his proven crimes, the Prophet did not mete out any punishment to him. On the contrary, he directed his Companions to behave well towards Suhail: “Anyone who meets Suhail should not be hostile in his demeanor. I swear by my, life that Suhail is undoubtedly a man of wisdom and nobility. And a man such as he cannot for long remain unaware of Islam.” (Seerat Halbiya, Vol II, p. 226).

The Prophet’s concessions to Suhail ibn Amr did not cease. After the Hawazin campaign, the Prophet gave him one hundred camels as a token of conciliation. After receiving such a gift, Suhail could not bring himself to go on ignoring the Prophet’s message. He thereupon accepted Islam and became the Prophet’s Companion.

With the death of the Prophet, the idea gained ground among the Arab tribes that God’s succour could no longer reach them, because the person through whom it came to them had departed this world. This lead the majority of the Arab tribes to revert to apostasy. According to Ibn Ishaq, when the Prophet died, most of the Meccans wanted to turn their backs on Islam. They were quite determined about it. The atmosphere in Mecca turned so hostile that the Prophet’s appointee to the governorship of Mecca, Attab ibn Usayd, went into hiding.

By that time, Suhail ibn Amr had become a member of the Islamic community. When he saw how the situation had deteriorated in Mecca, he stood before the people, and making the maximum use of his fine oratorical skills and striking personality, he said, “Listen, the Prophet’s passing away has done nothing but add to the power of Islam. Let anyone venture to do anything against us and we will have him killed.”

After hearing this powerful speech made by Suhail ibn Amr, people gave up the idea of turning apostate. Later, Attab ibn Usayd also came out of hiding. This was what the Prophet had meant when he said that one day, he (Suhail) might be in a position to command respect rather than elicit abuse. (Seerat ibn Hisham, Vol IV, p. 346).

This tradition of the Prophet shows that his vision was not confined to the present but went far ahead to future possibilities. If a man showed rebellious tendencies at that time, the Prophet was ready to overlook this in favour of his potential fidelity to his mission at a later date. He felt that the very capabilities which such a person drew upon in his fight against Islam would be turned to good account once he accepted Islam, and began to fight for it instead of against it. History shows that that is exactly what did happen.

10 AH is known in Islamic history as the year of grief. It was in this year that first the Prophet’s uncle and guardian, Abu Talib, and then his wife, Khadija, died. Now the atmosphere in Mecca became hostile to the spreading of his message. It was this situation which caused the Prophet to travel to Taif in the hopes that there he might find a more propitious environment in which to spread the word of God.

His hopes were not to be fulfilled. The chiefs of Taif, Abd Yalil, Masood, and Hubaib not only treated him with utmost scorn and arrogance, but they also set the street urchins upon him to ridicule him, stone him and thus drive him away from Taif. The Prophet finally returned bruised and bleeding from the stoning he had received in Taif. The Prophet once said to his wife Aisha that the hardest of his days was the one he had spent in Taif.

In Sahih-al-Bukhari (in the chapter on angels) it is recorded that when the Prophet was returning from Taif, wounded and grief-stricken, the Angel Gabriel came to him at a place called Qarn-e-Saalab. He called out to the Prophet, saying, “God has seen the treatment meted out to you by your community. Now God is sending the angel of the mountains to you. You can command him to do whatever you want to the people of Taif.”

At this point the angel of the mountains appeared before him. Greeting the Prophet, he said, “God has sent me to you. God has heard what your people had to say against you. I am the angel of the mountains. If you wish, I can crush the whole settlement of Taif between these two mountains.” The Prophet declined his offer, saying, “I still hope that God will produce from this generation men who will worship one God and who will not place anything else on a par with Him.”

This incident shows that if the Prophet’s own generation were unbelievers, he was ready to wait for the conversion of subsequent generations. In spite of receiving only insults and haughtiness from his contemporaries, he did not want to exterminate these people in the hopes that their offspring and the succeeding generations would breed men who acknowledge God’s greatness and who bowed before Him.

It is recorded in the annals of history, that after the victory of Mecca, all the inhabitants of Taif entered the fold of Islam, subsequently performing great feats in its name. For instance, Abu Ubayd Masood Thaqafi, a descendant of that generation, commanded the Muslim army which engaged in the holy war in Iran under the Caliphate of Umar Farooq. He displayed exemplary courage in the face of the Persian army of elephants and inspired such awe in the hearts of the Iranians that they lost the will to do battle with the Muslims.

Another highly esteemed warrior of Islam who also belonged to this same cruel and insolent Thaqif tribe was *Mohammad bin Qasim Thaqafi. Entering India via Sindh in 711 AD (95 AH), he proved himself an extremely just and capable leader. Within the space of just two years, he had spread God’s message on such a large scale throughout the length and breadth of Sindh and the Punjab, that whole region came within the fold of Islam. The present Pakistan owes its existence not so much to Mohammad Ali Jinnah as to Muhammad ibn Qasim Thaqafi. When he left India for Damascus, the Indian people wept at the thought of losing such a worthy and noble leader, and set up a statue to venerate him.

The Prophet would have been quite justified in punishing his tribe after the treatment they had meted out to him in Taif, and he was certainly in a position to do so when the angel of the mountains descended at God’s behest to do his biding. But he preferred to be lenient, so that future generations of their people could champion the cause of Islam, and make history in the process.

Subsequent events fully justified the Prophet’s expectations. But had he crushed the people of Taif for their insolence by using the powers of the angel of the mountain, Taif would have left nothing to posterity but ruins, instead of going on to become one of the bastions of Islam.

Today’s Enemy Tomorrows Friend

Today, the name of Ikramah, son of Amr ibn Hisham (known later as Abu Jahal – father of the ignorant) figures among those of the honourable companions of the Prophet. But prior to the conquest of Mecca he had been – like his father before him – a staunch opponent of the Prophet. Following in his father’s footsteps, he was insolent and aggressive towards the Prophet and even after his father’s death, he continued actively to oppose Islam. For instance, at the battle of Uhud, he commanded the left wing of the army opposing the Prophet. (The right wing was commanded by Khalid bin Walid, another later convert.).

*See Fatuhul Buldan.

Ikramah’s crimes against the Prophet were so glaringly obvious, that after the conquest of Mecca, he took refuge in Yemen. He was certain that if he was discovered there, he would at once be put to death. However, his wife, who had by that time embraced Islam, went to Yemen and persuaded him to come back to Mecca. Ashamed of all his past deeds, he appeared before the Prophet with bowed head and asked, “Am I to be spared?” The Prophet replied, “Yes, you are to be shown mercy.” Finally, Ikramah recited the testament of faith and accepted Islam. (The details of this incident have been recorded in the Book of Seerah.)

When it was known that Ikrama was on his way back from Yemen to meet the Prophet, the latter said to his companions, “Ikramah is coming to us, but on no account are you to abuse his father. Abusing the dead does them no injury, but it does hurt those who are still alive.” When Ikramah finally arrived and approached the Prophet, the latter hastened to greet him. In fact, he moved with such alacrity that his outer garment, a length of cloth in which he wrapped himself, fell to the ground.

After accepting Islam, Ikramah begged one favour of the Prophet, who answered that he had but to ask and he would surely receive whatever he desired. Ikramah then requested the Prophet to forgive him, and to pray to God for His forgiveness for all the enmity he had displayed towards him, all the hurdles he had placed in his path, all the battles he had waged against him and all the abusive language he had used, both to his face and behind his back. The Prophet immediately prayed to God to forgive him for all the enmity he had shown him, for all the activities in which he had engaged in order to extinguish God’s light, and for all he had done to defame him, whether openly or covertly.

At this, Ikramah said, “O Prophet of God, by God, whatever I used to spend to turn people away from the path of God I will now double to encourage them to tread that very path. Whatever battles I fought to prevent God’s message being spread, I will now fight with redoubled energy in the path of God.” True to his word, he devoted his life and his wealth to the holy struggle, until he was martyred fighting bravely in the war of Yarmuk. (Hayat al Sahaba, Damascus, part I, pp. 176-77).

Ikramah had committed all sorts of misdemeanours against the Prophet, ranging from insolence to outright aggression. And apparently he deserved to be put to death. But the Prophet was not an executioner. He was a dayee (missionary). He saw veiled in Ikramah’s “today,” a vision of ‘tomorrow.’ It was this missionary vision which caused him to forgive him unconditionally. Later events proved how correct his assessment had been. Disguised under the garb of an enemy, there had all along been the true friend Ikramah. One who had formerly led a life turned to evil because of his repeated blasphemies, now, in his late life, became a cornerstone of Islam.

(To be continued)